Re: Download BOM from BPCS

I'm an extreme geek.  By embedding the SQL statement, the user just needs to
open the spreadsheet and everything should work. This is in contrast to
training the user to select download specs, then downloading the data.  One
step instead of two.  Life is easier.

Use Google to get sample of how this works.  If need be, I can provide a
sample.

Mindaugas Bielskus

-----Original Message-----
From: Al Mac [mailto:macwheel99@xxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2006 12:05 AM
To: SSA's BPCS ERP System
Subject: Re: [BPCS-L] Download BOM from BPCS


We are 405 CD in which we use a very generic AS/400 approach to downloading 
stuff from BPCS that people want to see in Excel, or text file attached to 
e-mail..

1. Use Query/400 to organize the data that the PC user desires ... 
typically they do not want to see all the fields of the BPCS files.  In 
case of BOM they might not want to see entries whose effectivity date is 
not current.  They might not want to see all facilities, etc.

2. Use Operations Navigator to copy the Query output to a PC folder as text 
file, or into an Excel or wherever they want the info.

There are alternatives, such as embedding SQL/400 inside of an Excel, so 
that at the time of opening the Excel, you get the latest BPCS 
data.  However, in my opinion this approach has several problems.
* You have to be an extreme geek to know how to set it up so it works
properly
* This opens the door to an enormous volume of computer security breaches 
... for example, a geek sets it up for a user, then the user tinkers with 
the SQL commands, and the result is a BPCS crash, or worse, bad data being 
fed into BPCS data bases from the Excel, with no one being the wiser.

Be sure to ask the end user what they want this for.
e.g. Industrial Espionage ... they plan to move to work for a competitor 
and they want to take a copy of our data with them so the new employer can 
steal some of our business.
e.g. Embezzlement ... they have a get rich quick scheme, in which they want 
to analyse our data to see where they have a good chance of getting away 
with it
e.g. Corporate Sabotage ... they have some idea about restructuring how the 
company makes the products, in which they plan to rearrange stuff on PC 
then next upload what they have done back into BPCS, without going through 
a proper conversion process, in which the result will be BPCS no longer 
functioning with respect to whatever files they did this with e.g. ERP
self-education ... they think BPCS is far too complicated, and 
they want to teach themselves ERP by using our data to try to figure out 
how to do things without first getting an education in ERP or BPCS ... this 
can be very dangerous if they plan to use the output from this exploration 
in place of the output from BPCS.
In these examples, the user will probably say something a little different, 
but you need to be able to read between the lines.

In my opinion, a valid application is when an engineer needs to share data 
with a customer for which we are making the part, and the decision has been 
for the personnel at the customer site to get zero training in BPCS, zero 
access to our data, but instead send them data in a format that they are 
comfortable with.

Another valid application would be to use in concert with some PC 
application such as quoting new parts, where they want access to data on 
similar parts that we already make.

The main issue is whether the person who wants the data is someone who has 
a good understanding of how the data is used in BPCS, because if they do 
not have a good understanding, what this does is invite garbage in garbage
out.

>Is there currently an option in BPCS to download the BOM to a text file 
>or excel?
>
>
>
>Thanks,
>
>Daniel
>
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